Running To Him - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 6

29| Vault of Secrets

"No peeking!"

"How on Earth could I be peaking, Guinevere, when your hand is covering my eyes?"

I continued ushering my mom through her front door and into her living room. This birthday in particular was a special one—and it took some clever planning to make sure her present was ready on time. There were so many moving pieces with everything, I was sure something was going to go wrong.

"I don't know," I responded as I got her into position. "You have ways, mom. Just no peeking. We're almost there."

"I should have known something was up when you offered to pick me up from the airport today. You hate driving to the airport."

I gave her an amused snort. "I hate driving in New York PERIOD. Worst. Traffic. Ever."

My mom had been away for a week visiting one of her oldest friends in California. She planned the trip to return today, the exact day of her birthday. That was one of the hassles I had to deal with when it came to her present. I had to make sure it was done within the time frame that she was gone. The main thing I worried about was it not being completed by the time she got here.

"Okay, mom. You ready?"

"Yes, yes! Show me! I'm going crazy over here, Guinevere."

Feeling anxious and excited, a wide smile stretched across my face as I removed my hand. "Open your eyes!"

Her audible gasp was confirmation that she did as I said and was now viewing her modified living room.

"Guinevere," she breathed, putting her hand to her mouth as she looked around. "This is...it's so beautiful. I can't believe you did this."

I stepped beside her and linked her arm with mine. "Well, technically I didn't. You know I don't have a creative bone in my body. I hired someone. Do you like it?"

"Are you kidding me? It looks just like Paris. And the Eiffel Tower...I can't believe you did this for me."

My mother has been obsessed with all things Paris for a long time. It was always her dream to travel there one day. We never had a chance because she was sick, but now that she was better I was really hoping that she and I could go there together soon. But in the meantime this was all I could do.

I hired an artist I found on Instagram to paint a French city scene on my mom's large living room wall. And right in the middle was her favorite thing in the whole entire world—the Eiffel Tower. When I hired the artist, the one thing I wanted a guarantee on was that it could be done in a week. And she did not disappoint.

My mom turned towards me and cupped my face in her hands with tears in her eyes. "This is the best present you could have given me, darling. I love it."

She pulled me into a tight hug and my heart squeezed in my chest. "I love you, mom. Happy birthday. I promise one day we'll go there together."

I cursed under my breath as the sound of laughter around me got even louder in the bar I escaped to. Even though I knew what today was, I went to bed just fine last night. Even this morning, when I was in bed with Ollie and he made love to me, I was okay. It was the after part that got to me. The part where Ollie had to work so I lied and said I was going up to my room for the day to clean and stuff. In my defense, it wasn't a lie at first. I really thought I was fine. But that all changed once I got up there and realized I was alone.

Even though Ollie was in the warehouse with me, I was alone. And when I was alone, I started to think. When I started to think...that's when I turned into Runaway Jamie. For a split second I debated grabbing my essentials and doing a complete disappearing act on Ollie. Just getting away. But for some reason, I couldn't do that. So, I just started walking until I found this place.